


until every spark of hope is gone

by ambiguously



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Character Study, Chronology, Gen, POV Lio Fotia, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27907657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Lio Fotia, before and after the war.
Relationships: Burning Rescue Members & Lio Fotia, Lio Fotia & Galo Thymos, Lio Fotia & Gueira & Meis
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24
Collections: Heart Attack Exchange 2020





	1. Who We Were

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stepOnMeZenos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stepOnMeZenos/gifts).



> Does not incorporate material from _Lio-hen_ or _Galo-hen_

On the first day was a great burning. And the second. Third too. To speak the truth, there were many days of great burning, ravaging the Earth with holy fire and sanctifying the ground with ash during the Great World Blaze. The Burnish didn't know their own strength then, nor their weaknesses. All they knew were the voices inside them, telling them to burn. What burned didn't matter, only the beauty of the fire and the purity of the flames.

Lio was in school when it happened to him. The news reports had started to roll in, stealing the teachers away from the classrooms to whisper in the corridors together, hunched and secretive. The other students were restless without instruction. Even at their age, one good distraction was enough to set the whole class off track for the rest of the day.

What he came to recognize much later was how different his own experience was from any other Burnish he ever spoke to about their awakening. Anger, they said. Frustration. Children wailed over stolen toys and burned their playmates. Teenagers distraught with broken hearts burned their would-be lovers. Bus drivers frustrated with their noisy passengers took it out on them in flames. Over and over, emotion ruled the day, thick and terrifying and full of fire.

But Lio was calm.

He flipped through his textbook, no more than mildly annoyed with the whispers and snickers of the other students. A voice inside him said, "Burn it, Lio. Burn it all."

Curious and fascinated, he lifted his hand to his face. At his will, purple-blue flames jumped to life at his fingertips. He heard someone scream, and someone else shout a warning. A third classmate who was less startled than the others ran to the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall and sprayed Lio with choking white foam.

Dripping and more irritated now, Lio said, "Stop that!" He pushed his classmate away with his flames. Even then, he understood how to control himself, how not to cause damage. The flame inside his head told him to burn but he knew how to direct that burn to great purpose.

Looking back much later, he should have wondered more about that.

* * *

The school didn't burn down because of him. Another student in another part of the building hadn't been as lucky with her awakening. She'd torched the whole floor within moments. Lio still took his share of the blame, reflected in the terrified eyes of his own classmates. He ran home, knowing they'd seen him, knowing they thought he was another monster like the other firestarters making the news today. They knew his name, they'd seen his flames, and they would tell the firefighters and the police he'd been the arsonist.

This morning, he'd eaten porridge in the kitchen while looking over his notes from yesterday. Now his shoes made loud clicks against the pavement as he ran back to the safest place he knew, knowing it was no longer safe.

Lio lived with his mother in his childhood home. Apartments in this part of the city were obscenely expensive and they were glad to have each other. She was home, thank god she was home from work early, alive and not burned with the countless others whose numbers tallied up on the television screen as they watched together on the couch that night.

"You had a close call today," she said, hugging him. He'd told her about the fire at school. The words in his head couldn't wrap around the other thing that happened, the important one. He heard sirens outside, but Burning Rescue had far more important things on their minds today than chasing down one firestarter. The city was ablaze in too many places. After, when the fires were out, he knew they'd come for the people who started them, and the people that others thought may have.

"Too close." He put on a smile for her as he stood. "I'll make dinner tonight. Your favorite noodles."

"You don't have homework?"

"Not tonight. No more classes until the school is rebuilt, right?" He made a light joke of it but his heart was heavy.

His mother was too weary to hear the words underneath. "Good point. You can make dessert, too," she teased him, putting her feet up on the couch where he'd been sitting.

Lio cooked her favorite noodle dish. His sauce was never as good as hers but he followed the recipe as well as he could and thought this was the best effort he'd ever made. He sliced and stewed some apples for dessert, garnishing them with lemon and honey. Not a meal fit for a king, but a meal fit for a goodbye.

"This is wonderful!" she said. "The sauce is perfect!" Lio grinned at the compliments and lingered over his own food, letting his eyes catch on the warm touches around the dining room: his grandmother's antique dishes, protected inside the glass cabinet; the last good picture they had of his father; the little spoons his aunt sent them from her travels around the world, lined up in display. He saved most of his attention for his mother tonight, asking about the tiny details of her day before she had been sent home.

When she fell asleep, he packed what he needed, and a few things he hoped he'd never need. He slipped outside and into the smoke-filled night, ignoring the voice that told him to burn his home to the ground on his way out the door.

He wasn't there when the men from the government came. His mother knew nothing about what had happened at the school. She couldn't be arrested for harboring a firestarter in her home because he'd run away. He didn't have to see her weep when she understood he wasn't coming back.

* * *

The news called them Burnish. He'd thought "firestarters" was cooler. No one else agreed and after a while, Lio accepted the new name, embracing it like a warm blanket. "Burnish" was another word for "shine" and he felt himself shining inside every time he touched the flames.

The rest of the world didn't see them as shining. The rest of the world was scared. Lio could hide away what he was, of course. Hiding was easy for him. The fire was part of his soul, bound to his will and not the other way around. Other Burnish weren't as lucky. Their powers awakened and they burst out in fear or anger, and the world replied back with ice and water and choking foam, forcing them to keep hiding in more fear.

The girl from school was named Hina. She'd been locked away in a prison cell, alone and scared and asking for her parents. Lio found out her name and her location by watching the news scroll on the buildings and piecing together answers from questions he was still learning how to ask.

"Burn it," said the voices, and Lio listened, torching the side of the building until she was freed.

"Come on," he told her, trembling with his own power and worried about the sirens screaming around them.

She shook her head, terrified, clawing at the remaining walls of her cell. "Stay away!"

Lio groaned. "Fine. Stay in here or go with me. They will keep you locked up forever. I can offer you freedom."

Her eyes still full of fear, she blazed out at him, and when she saw he was unhurt, she jumped free of the wall. Lio caught her. "Run!"

* * *

"It's a cult," said a talking head on a news scroll. The image cut away to Burnish dressed in matching robes, raising their powers to ignite together in protest. Volcanoes blew under their command, heaving from the Earth to belch lava and fumes, even places where there had never been vents before.

Fire. So much fire. Lio could hear the voices in the flames as vibrant tongues licked across the planet, scorching everything in its wake. The people pushed back, using every trick in their arsenal to extinguish the infernos before they wiped out the world, and Lio heard their cries as well. The Great World Blaze enveloped the Earth, and what it didn't burn, it scarred inside hearts.

Burnish were cast out of their homes, or lost them to their own sad devices. Lio paid attention to the news, and to the rumors. He didn't look like the terrible propaganda posters everywhere, warning ordinary citizens to turn in suspected Burnish. His smile opened doors, led him to those he was coming to think of as his people.

He wasn't the only one. The news came in from around the world. Burnish weren't so easily cowed by threats and fear. "We are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers! We are teachers, dentists, Little League batters! We are your families and friends! We have the same rights as you!"

Even as a student, Lio had never considered himself political. Some of his classmates had been radicals, bent on changing the world. He'd preferred to study. Now his mere existence was radical, his continued life a political act. The same classmates who'd marched for gay marriage and trans rights now marched with signs, some for Burnish, some for protection from them. Lio didn't march. Lio watched, and he planned.

If his life was a political statement he intended to make as loud of one as he could. The burning suit was half-tech, half-fever dream brought on by his own powers. Burnish marched for their rights, and police pushed back on them, arresting them or worse, and Mad Burnish came in his black suit filled with lavender fire to protect his people and avenge them.

* * *

It took him five years to notice the lack of changes on his body, no matter how much he burned. It took five more to understand the lack of changes on his face. He'd been a youth when his awakening had happened. Now he should be nearing thirty, and he was still young. The flames gave him this gift, renewing him over and over each time he dipped himself into their power and gave in to their whispers.

"You've got a picture in an attic somewhere," Hina teased. She'd been two years his junior when they'd met, and now she looked older than he did. She hid her powers away, never gave into them except when her own life was in danger. She didn't embrace being a Burnish. She mourned it.

Hina was only the first. He started collecting people, the way his mother collected her sister's spoons. This time, he did the traveling, and instead of a nice wooden rack on the wall, he looked for a home for them.

Dion was more like Lio, willing to reach into himself and pull out the strange power that had been given to them. He followed Lio into frays, a second Mad Burnish to rescue the weak and burn the businesses of their attackers.

"There's nothing wrong with power," Dion said, laying on his back and staring up at the stars. Lio lay beside him on the rock he'd chosen tonight, unable to see the patterns there even as Dion named them one by one for him. He loved the stars. "I'm a shooting star," he said with a laugh every time they went into battle.

"You're an idiot is what you are," Lio always replied.

Dion died in their first battle against Freeze Force. Colonel Vulcan killed him with one blow from his mecha's hand, snapping his neck. As he fought for his own life, Lio watched his best friend's body turn to ash.

He escaped alive. The Burnish they had come to save escaped with him. Lio told himself Dion willingly paid that price, that he would gladly pay the same price had their places been reversed. But now he had even more Burnish under his care, and no place for them to go, and his best friend was gone.

* * *

He met Gueira in the middle of a riot. Anti-Burnish agitators were attacking a school where a Burnish child was rumored to be in attendance. Freeze Force hadn't yet arrived to arrest the poor kid, and if they didn't get there soon, the assholes outside were ready to break down the walls to get him themselves and rend him limb from limb. Gueira stood against them, flames shooting from both hands and daring words on his lips. He had the haunted look of someone who expected to be killed today and the pale determination of someone who intended to take as many of his foes with him as he could.

"Mad Burnish!" he shouted, seeing Lio flying in on his own power. Gueira laughed like a madman. "See?" he shouted to the advancing crowd. "Now you're toast!"

Lio put down a wall of fire between them and the newcomer. "I don't kill, not unless I need to."

Gueira stared at him. "You can't be serious."

"I am. We're not like them. They kill us out of fear. I won't stoop to that level."

"Then they'll kill you too!"

Lio threw out his hand, forcing the flames back against the crowd without thinking about it. He knew how to render the burning safe, knew how to push rather than to engulf. The crowd moved back.

Gueira gave him a more appraising look. "Maybe you won't. What's the next move, Boss?"

"The child. He'll need to come with us."

"Right." Gueira dashed into the building and returned with a small boy holding his hand.

Lio bent down, mindless of the jeers beyond the high flames. "What's your name?"

"Kyo."

"Kyo, do you want to come with us?"

"I want my daddy."

Lio said, "We can take you to your father, but it's not safe for you to live with him any longer. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded, although the shock on his face may have been doing the talking. Lio scooped him in his arms. He couldn't carry the kid and his new friend. They made a run for it towards the back of the school and out of sight.

"Kyo!" said a large man, running out of the house where Kyo led them. He looked at Lio and Gueira in fear. "Get away from him!"

Lio said, "We are his only hope. The next time the mob comes, they will take him, and the best he can hope for is life inside a cell."

Kyo cried against his father, who stood still in thought. Then he reached out his hand and sparkling flames danced in the palm of his hand. "Can you take us both?"

* * *

Meis had burned down four government buildings before Lio caught up with him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Fighting fire with fire," Meis shouted, aiming his flames at the front doors of a fire station.

"You need to give them an exit," Lio said. "We destroy buildings, not lives."

"Says you."

Lio turned his powers on Meis, pushing him to the ground. He knew his own gifts were stronger than anyone else's he'd ever met. He didn't like bullying people around but he'd do it in a pinch. "Says me."

"I hear what you are saying." Meis blinked at him. "Back door, huh?"

"Give them a fair shot at survival. Then burn the whole thing down."

"I think I like you, Mad Burnish."

* * *

They paid attention to the technology Freeze Force used. Thermal imaging could spot a Burnish inside a building, or pick one out from a peaceful crowd. Lio knew his people were being locked up somewhere when Freeze Force took them, and he tracked down rumors who funded the prisons where they were taken. Dead end led to dead end, and his people weren't safe.

"What about the volcanoes?" asked Hina one night. Lio had gathered his closest people to work on a plan: Hina and Thyma, Meis and Gueira. The ones he trusted most. Hina looked twice his age now.

"What about them?"

"They'll block our signatures," Thyma said. "That's brilliant!"

"We can't live in a volcano," Gueira said.

Lio said, "We can live close by. A thermal scan passing over would never see us." He looked out into the warehouse area of the abandoned building they'd taken over this week.

* * *

The first sanctuary was set up in an abandoned complex close to multiple volcanoes. "It's not safe," Lio said, looking across to where the cones smoked and muttered. "One eruption and we'll be dead."

Thyma said, "We'll be dead anyway if we stay where they can find us."

They brought their people to the sanctuary in small groups, fearing to travel together. One transport was found by Freeze Force, and Mad Burnish intervened, taking Vulcan's attention away from the others. It was the first time Thyma had donned the black suit, and she hesitated before firing.

"You can't think about it," Gueira shouted at her. "Let the flames tell you what to do!"

"They're telling me to burn everything!"

Meis said, "Then that's what you do!" He threw his flames into a nearby building and gave Freeze Force a whole new problem.

"Stay focused!" Lio ordered. "We can't lose the transport!"

They lost one car. Five Burnish were taken away, and the fire alone knew to where. They got the rest safely to the sanctuary. Lio couldn't eat his dinner that night. Instead he perched alone up on one of the catwalks crisscrossing over the wide areas that would be their new living spaces. He sat, and he watched his people, and he wondered what would become of them.

* * *

Sometimes, when he was weak, he went back to the neighborhood where he'd grown up. Mom had kept the house there, taking in renters from time to time to make ends meet. Lio made himself stay away, not go to her and hug her and tell her he was safe, but there were nights when the wind blew and the voices whispered, and he tiptoed up to her window. The furnishings had changed over the years. His mother's hair had gone entirely gray rather than the vibrant brown she'd once meticulously kept up with help from bottle after bottle of mid-priced tint.

Lio's pictures hung on the wall beside his father's, from his early childhood to the last picture Mom had taken of him before the Great World Blaze. There weren't many nights he let himself come here, and fewer that he let himself stare, but every time, if he waited long enough, he watched her walk over to his last picture and tell him goodnight before she turned out the lights and went to bed.


	2. Who We Are

It wasn't as though they had a phone directory with other Burnish, and even if such a marvelous thing existed, they'd have to destroy it for safety. One good idea needed to be shared with others, and passed along. What worked in Promepolis might also work in Seattonia, or Yellowstone.

"We'll be back soon," Lio promised. "Hina is in charge while we're gone, and Thyma can protect you as Mad Burnish."

"I don't like it," Thyma said. "You've got the power, Lio. I'm just another Burnish."

Meis said, "Freeze Force doesn't know that."

Meis and Gueira had located a car. Stolen, Lio corrected himself. They'd stolen a car. They were both very good at acquiring transportation or anything else he sent them out to retrieve. Lio wanted to tell them to stop, that the Burnish weren't thieves just as they weren't murderers. We are good people, he wanted to say. We can't keep feeding into the stereotypes they say about us.

He got into the car, riding in the back like a dignitary while Meis drove. The leather upholstery creaked as he moved, and smelled like ancient cigarettes and lemon polish.

The car might have been stolen but it purred like some dark dream under them, lapping up the miles of unmaintained roads between the citystates. Out here in the Badlands between population centers, lone houses stood like single rotted teeth. Lio could see people, tiny specks walking the brown, ruined fields, scratching out what sustenance they could. The fires had burned here and left the world barren.

He thought about the cities as he watched the brown landscape pass by. Steel and glass and light shone like diamonds in the surrounding deserts. Great hydroponic farms climbed inside skyscrapers, growing enough food for everyone. Water gushed fresh from deep wells, and was desalinated from the sea, and the people washed their clothes and feet in water so fresh you could cry. Even out at the sanctuary, they'd managed to get one of the old drills running, digging down to an aquifer for nearly-fresh water. They could grow a little food, and they could take what they needed from the cast-offs of Promepolis. It was the life of a tick, existence prolonged by sucking the lifeforce of some huge being who'd barely notice the bite, but it was a life. If he led his people out into these wastes, they would starve.

Smaller cities dotted along their path, and here they stopped for food and fuel. The exchange rate between Promepolis and Portellia was outrageously terrible. They had money today, a side-effect from whatever his two friends had done to get the car. Lio tried not to imagine, and he regretted their unknown actions even more as he counted out the costs.

"We could just grab the food," Meis said, looking at the prices for a small cup of soup.

"We need to just take the fuel," Gueira said, staring at the price of fuel. In Promepolis, the Foresight Foundation had developed an easy, cheap means of creating enough fuel to power cars, buildings, homes. They'd licensed the technology to other cities, but at exorbitant rates which were passed on to the consumers.

"We have enough," Lio said. "We don't need to steal more today."

There were anti-Burnish signs in windows as they passed by. Lio saw the eyes of some of those looking at the signs. "Stop the car."

"You sure, Boss?"

"I'm sure."

Lio approached a woman who'd give an anti-Burnish sign a terrified look. She stepped back from him, her fears written large on her face. "Stay back."

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm a friend." Lio flicked a finger up with a single blue-purple flame, and closed his hand just as quickly.

"Leave me alone!" she cried, and ran, but he'd seen the recognition on her face.

"Should we follow her, Boss?"

He watched her flee, and knew there was no point. "No."

Back on the road, he continued his observation. The world was greener this far north, even though the area had seen more volcanic activity. The heavy rains blowing up the coast must have irrigated the wretched soil. Lio remembered watching a documentary about volcanic islands, back when he'd still been in school and his life had been ordinary. Even on the most remote atolls and desolate isles newly-risen above the ocean, tiny seeds from seabird droppings took hold and flourished, gradually covering the landscape despite the ebb and flow of seismic activity. He'd fallen asleep some nights thinking about those tiny islands in the middle of the ocean, wondering if they'd all blown during the Great World Blaze and wiped out their minuscule ecosystems, wondering if the birds had ever returned, bringing life back to the wretched barren rocks.

There was life here. Mean, barely green, but life.

It was Gueira's turn at the wheel. He asked Meis, "What were you going to do before you found out you were Burnish?"

Meis shrugged, a great slump of shoulders indicating a lifetime of indeterminate wants and needs blasted away by the burning inside himself. "I liked fishing with my granddad. Then I set our fishing boat on fire." Lio couldn't see his face from here, but could make out the change in his jawline. "Whatever. Fish smell anyway."

Lio pictured Meis on the water, sun shining down on his shoulders as he heaved nets aboard a small but sturdy boat, an old man who looked like him with fifty years tacked on straining his own muscles to help. A simple life.

"What about you?" Meis asked.

"I wanted to be a policeman."

"Really?" Meis sounded like he wanted to laugh and only didn't laugh because he was sure Gueira would punch him if he did.

"My dad was a cop. He died in the line of duty. Drug runners." Gueira drove on, his mind lost in a long-ago place.

"No offense, but you're too good at breaking into places and stealing things to be a cop."

"Most cops are good at stealing. The best thieves are cops and vice-versa. Dad joined the force because it was either that or prison for stealing a truck. He taught me everything he knew about hot-wiring cars and bypassing locks."

Neither of them asked Lio. They liked him. They were his best friends. At the same time, they often treated Lio almost like some kind of demigod, and to his sorrow, he encouraged them. He needed their loyalty, and their faith in him, and he needed them to listen to him at all costs. He hadn't intended to instill a near-religious fervor in either one's heart, just as he'd never intended for any of the Burnish to idolize him. But they did, and he knew their belief was as important to the thing he was building as anything else.

"I was in school," he said. "I was going to be a doctor. I wanted to help people."

Meis said, "You'd have made a great doctor, Boss!" Which he'd expected Meis to say.

Lio had thought he'd have been a good doctor. He wondered if his healing powers were in part due to that old desire. The time was past. He could no more be a doctor than spontaneously turn himself into a butterfly. He met Gueira's gaze in the rear view mirror for a moment, and saw that understanding reflected back. The river moved on for miles, and the person you were when you stepped into it was not the person who stepped out the other side.

* * *

They ran into some luck in Seattonia. This citystate wasn't as developed as Promepolis but it was far more technologically advanced than Portellia had been. There were signs against Burnish here, too. News scrolled along the buildings about Burnish protests, and this was how they found where their people were.

The protest stretched across five city blocks. The three of them looked like typical humans as they slipped through shouting crowds, and many of those holding supportive signs for Burnish rights were typical humans. That didn't stop the authorities from crashing into them or arresting them.

"Wanted to be a cop, huh?" Meis said, as they watched three people handcuffed and taken away.

"That was a long time ago," said Gueira. He looked at Lio. "What do you think, Boss?"

Lio stared at the rioters and the smoke bombs, and he smelled the fear. "I think they could use Mad Burnish's help."

Power flowed through him as he donned his suit. Beside him, Gueira and Meis formed their own. There was no feeling like this in the world, armored in his own power and flying into a battle as his fist connected with the helmeted jaw of an armed officer. They didn't have a Freeze Force here. They had guns, which Mad Burnish melted, and they had armored cars, which Mad Burnish burned.

The anti-Burnish protesters tried to attack, and this was a mistake. The Burnish who'd marched for their own rights saw the black suits and took heart, fighting back with their own fire. Old women, young children, everyone in-between, showing their own strength.

The crowd dispersed, and Lio and his friends dispersed with it, blending in again as they ran. He'd taken note of the Burnish leaders, even as they'd been scattered, and these were the ones they followed.

They found the ramshackle building the Seattonian Burnish used as their hideaway. The three of them were stopped as they tried to enter. "Sorry, private property."

"We're Mad Burnish," said Gueira. "You really want to piss us off?"

"Let them in," said a voice. Lio saw the leader of these Burnish, an older man, thin, harried, but with fire in his eyes. "You helped us today. Thank you."

Lio said, "All Burnish are family. We've come to visit."

"We can offer you nothing but the most basic hospitality. They take from us whatever they can. What is ours is yours."

"I am Lio Fotia. These are my associates, Gueira and Meis. Thank you for the hospitality offer. We've come to you not with our hands out, but with a plan. The Burnish in Promepolis have learned to hide ourselves. We came to share this with as many Burnish as possible."

"Hide?" The leader, whose name was Valo, snarled, and Lio saw the madness under the fire. "We do not hide!" he shouted, in defiance of the broken-down hideaway and the poor souls huddled inside. Perhaps he saw this, his gaze flitting into the shadows of the poorly-lit room, and on the faces of his followers. "We don't hide for much longer," he said, voice calm again, like one who had seized control of his own internal battle, and tamed it.

Lio pressed on. "The volcanoes disguise our heat signatures. In Promepolis, Freeze Force and the other government lackeys use thermal imaging to search for us. If they haven't started with you yet, they soon will."

"We know this technology," said Valo. "We don't fear it. We overcome it." He snapped his fingers. Two young women brought him a full-length vest, which they draped over his arms. "Cooling vests. We've been producing these for the last month. Soon, all Burnish will wear them and walk free."

"That's amazing," said Meis. Then he saw Lio's face and backed down. "I mean, cool."

"I admire your ingenuity. That is an incredible invention." Lio stepped forward and examined the construction of the outfit. The flaws were apparent: Burnish glowed hot even in their brains. Especially in their brains. A cooled body would help disguise them until the moment someone brought out a forehead thermometer. The vest itself was poorly-sewn, and pockets dispelled coolant as Valo proudly modeled it for Lio's approval.

"So you see, we have no reason to hide ourselves away. Soon we will have enough vests for all the Burnish in Seattonia."

"All we ask is that you consider our plan. We didn't come to force you into anything. We came to help."

* * *

They stayed for a week, getting to know the Burnish here. Lio didn't like what he saw. Once Valo's ego was appeased by Lio's acceptance of the vests, he let his guard down. He was so glad to see Mad Burnish here, and glad they came to help. Valo had a dream, and plans.

"The Burnish are strong," he said, looking out on his people as they went about their sad, sheltered lives here. "We are the next stage in human evolution. Once we can move among the others freely, we will assume our rightful place."

Lio thought their rightful place was beside other humans in common brotherhood. He held his tongue now and asked, "Our place?"

"As their rulers. Benevolent, of course, don't frown your pretty face so, Lio." Valo chuckled. "We've been working on this plan for some time. Many of us have already infiltrated the government, even our own Governor's office has multiple Burnish on staff, and they don't know it. Once we are ready, we will seize power for the good of all Burnish."

"That seems complicated. Wouldn't it be better to reach out the hand of friendship?"

"They'd only slap the hand away, or chain it with icy cuffs, as they have done for decades. No, the only way for us to rise is to ascend to the top."

And of course, Valo saw himself sitting at the very tip of this new pyramid, Lio thought. He had that look, of the would-be dictator who told himself his plans were merciful even as he brought his shoe down on the faces of his enemies, typical human and Burnish alike.

"And you will help us," said Valo. "If Mad Burnish attacks the city, we Burnish here can rise against you and show the citizens we are their friends."

"We're not attacking your city!"

"We could show you which buildings to burn. Uninhabited, if you like." But his eyes didn't quite reach Lio's and Lio knew he was lying. "Then we swoop in to save the day, and the public opinion on Burnish changes overnight. We can throw down the Governor and take our place in charge."

It was a mad plan completely at odds with his own plan to disguise his people with the cooling vests. No wonder he hadn't put much thought into them, nor cared how poorly they were made. Those were for show.

"I see," said Lio. "I think I understand now."

Valo smiled hugely, placing a warm hand on Lio's shoulder. "I'm glad, friend."

* * *

They left that night, without alerting their hosts and without a word of goodbye. Lio wouldn't stand against Valo and his plans, but he wouldn't aid him in this folly.

Gueira asked, "Off to Yellowstone?"

Lio thought about it as they purred along the highway out of the city. "No."

The drive back was longer. Meis couldn't get them fueled before they left, and they only had a little money left. The engine was more efficient at slower speeds, limping them into Portellia on fumes. They paid out the last of their money for enough fuel to reach Promepolis.

"We still need lunch, Boss," said Gueira, staring at a sandwich shop's welcoming front door. One blast and they could take enough to feed a third of the Burnish back home.

"There's food at the sanctuary," said Lio. "We can wait." He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

By the time they arrived back in Promepolis, sore and hungry and bitching at each other for no reason except those two, the news scrolls across the buildings said there'd been a Burnish attack on the Governor of Seattonia. In retaliation, the Seattonian Burnish had been routed from their shabby little hideaway and dealt with. The pleasant-faced newsreader used the word "exterminated."

"Dammit," said Meis, as Gueira said, "Shit."

Lio said nothing. He'd lost his appetite along with his hope.

* * *

He met Pavak while working on a different task. Lio was getting better at recognizing the signs of other Burnish. Something about the eyes, and the soul poking through, and the way the flames whispered in his own mind, excited at the presence of another.

"Hi," he said, and tried to be normal. Lio had slipped into his role as the leader of his people, which took him further and further from being a person himself. He had to make hard decisions. He had to step into battles for their sake. He couldn't risk the same kinds of close friendships or romances other Burnish did. That was part of their humanity, and he encouraged them, but Lio couldn't want the same things for himself, not and trust himself to make the calls that would keep the rest of them alive.

"Hi." Pavak looked at him warily. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, no. I just wanted to introduce myself. Lio."

"Nice to meet you." Pavak turned back to what he was doing.

He realized much later that his awkward hello came across as awkward flirting, and Pavak's distance was as much about turning him down gently as it was his awareness of the danger of being found out.

"You're a cook?"

"Best damn cook in Promepolis." Pride shone through. "So are you going to order?"

"Sure," Lio said, thinking of how little money he had on him. The Burnish had to make do with stealing from refuse, and what Hina and her own team could pick up from food banks. The garden helped, but gold didn't grow on vines. He looked at the menu. "I guess I'll take a coffee. Extra...hot."

The word "hot" got through to him. Pavak took a step back.

"It's all right," he said, showing him a flame. "I'm a friend."

Pavak shook his head. "You're no friend of mine. I've seen what you do. I don't want any trouble from you."

"We have a place. A safe place away from all this. People like us can be free there."

"I'm safe here. I have a good job. I have an apartment, and I'm saving up for a car."

"And you're afraid every day. I know. Believe me."

"I'll bring you your coffee. Then you should go."

"I will," said Lio. "As soon as I'm finished. I promise."

Pavak brought the coffee, and reluctantly gave over his name. Lio spoke with him about the sanctuary, careful to hide details. "Think about it. That's all I ask."

"I'm thinking I like my life. You go hide in the desert. I don't want to. I want to stay here."

Lio nodded. "I understand. You may not think I do, but I used to have a home, too. You could come with me now and see what we've got."

At last, Pavak agreed to go see as soon as his shift ended. Lio had to cover his eyes for the trip until he stepped inside the sanctuary. "It's for your safety as much as ours. If you choose not to join us, the less you know, the safer you are."

"I was safer this morning," Pavak moaned as he stumbled.

Lio was very proud of how the sanctuary was coming along. People had chosen their own sites for their homes. Gardens grew in pots where sunlight came through the roof. Children played, and the animals they'd taken in with the same gifts. It was so little, and yet it was everything they had.

Pavak walked with him as Lio greeted other Burnish. He didn't introduce himself to anyone, but he smiled pleasantly enough as Lio introduced Hina and Gueira, and said hello to Kyo, who was growing so big. He looked at their cookfires and accepted a taste or two of their meals when offered.

"We could use the best cook in Promepolis," Lio said.

"You could use less salt," said Pavak. He heaved a great sigh. "I see what you've done here. I get why you're proud. But this?" He waved his arm. "This is a homeless shelter. I've lived in those before and I don't want to do it again. I'd like to go back to the city now."

"All right," said Lio, and he took Pavak back home.

* * *

The rumors coalesced around one name, one company. The Foresight Foundation was behind Freeze Force, and Kray Foresight was the entire government rolled into one man. Lio tried to collect Burnish as he could, bring them into their home, safe away from harm. Some came with him. Others, like Pavak, refused. Still others couldn't be reached in time, taken away by Freeze Force as soon as they were identified.

Mad Burnish upped their attacks, focusing on Foresight Foundation holdings, burning their way inside and looking for any information on the locations where they held Burnish captives. The buildings had heat sensors on the doors, but Lio had never been one to turn down a good idea. They had constructed two cooling vests of their own, complete with stylish hats. They could walk in through the front doors brazenly.

"I believe some prisoners may be kept here and here," Lio said, pointing to various Foresight properties on the map. "We have to check."

"I'll take this one," said Thyma. "Get in, take a look around, report back."

"You should take backup."

"I'll be fine," she said. "Trust me."


	3. Who We Can Be

Lio had been fighting the war so long, he'd long ago let go of the person he'd been. Lio Fotia had been a student, and he'd wanted to be a doctor, and he'd lived with his mother, and that was another life. Then he'd become a Burnish, the most powerful Burnish of all, and he'd led his people into what passed for safety until the very end.

Now that Lio was gone, too. The voices inside his head were stilled, vanished into the other dimension where they belonged after Galo dé Lion ignited the last Great Blaze. Thyma was dead. Kray Foresight was going to prison for the rest of his life for her murder and the murder of Professor Prometh, and whatever charges applied for attempting to destroy the Earth via committing genocide of the Burnish. They would have to write new laws just to prosecute him.

Someone would. Lio wasn't a politician.

"You all right, Lio?" Galo's normally stupid-happy expression dimmed, noticing Lio's faraway eyes.

"Just thinking."

"Well think no more, my friend, because we have a ton of work to do." He slapped Lio on the back, which brought Lio back to the present more effectively than anything else could have. As soon as possible, he needed a new shirt. "You with me?"

"I am. But first, we need to free the Burnish." Ex-Burnish now. They were caught in their bonds, dealing with the loss of the presence in their minds.

"Right-o," said Galo, and called over to his friends. "Lucia? You got anything that can open up those sardine cans in a hurry?"

"I can help with that," said Heris. "I should help," she added, a distant expression in her own eyes. "From now on, that's my life's work." Her sister placed a hand on her shoulder.

Lio had pictured himself breaking the restraints holding his people in their terrible little boxes, but this was better. Within less than twenty minutes, Heris and Lucia had rigged up a means to deactivate all the electronic locks holding the captives. Burning Rescue flew in with their vehicles and their mecha suits to help the former Burnish climb down safely. Lio joined them, a spare Burning Rescue coat thrown over his bare chest and arms, as he took hands, held shoulders, guided people out of the cells where Foresight would have killed them, and led them into the street.

Gueira bent down and kissed the pavement as soon as he was free. Meis bent over and touched his head to some poky grass planted in a thin verge by the road.

"I feel so weird," he said, and Lio rubbed his back for a moment. "Thanks, Boss."

"They're really gone?" Gueira asked.

"Yes. The Promare have returned home. We are no longer the Burnish."

"We can go home?" Hina joined them in the street, and Lio hugged her. They'd spent thirty years in this life, and she looked it, but part of her today was the same young girl who'd never been able to return to her parents.

"You can," he said, and he embraced her one last time. After she'd left, he looked at Gueira and Meis. "That goes for you two as well. You can go home now. You can rejoin your families. Live the lives you wanted to before this all happened."

"I'd give my grandfather a heart attack," said Meis.

"I don't have anybody left," said Gueira. "Maybe an aunt and uncle somewhere?"

Lio looked at them both fondly. "That's no excuse. You can be anyone now. Go fish. Join the police academy."

"Actually," said Galo, in his all-embracing voice, "Burning Rescue could really use your help. Wanna join up?"

Varys groaned. "Rookie, are you recruiting? You know you don't get promoted by bringing in new people, right?"

Aina said, "He doesn't. He's that kind of idiot."

"Yeah," said Galo, "the kind of idiot who just hired us three new firefighters, oh yeah!"

Lio sighed. "I could have been a doctor."

"Now you can be a medic. Same thing!"

It wasn't, but Lio couldn't bear to wipe the stupid smile off Galo's face.

* * *

Not everyone was thrilled with the prospect of Mad Burnish joining the ranks of Burning Rescue. Lio trudged along beside Galo and the rest of his team as they helped clear the destruction from the fallen _Parnassus_ , and from the battles surrounding its launch. Lio recognized his own handiwork in the ruins, and remembered the pure, burning hatred that had fired through him as he'd lunged through the city as a dragon.

In hindsight, that was deeply embarrassing.

Now, people stared at him, flinching away as he came close. "He's Mad Burnish!" he heard, and those who could run darted away from him.

"I'm not," he wanted to say. "Not anymore. There are no Burnish."

Instead, he helped Galo dig through the rubble of a broken wall, and pulled out two trapped victims. Galo did have medical training, like he'd bragged back in the cave. Lio had relied on his Burnish powers for so long that he'd forgotten the little he'd known back when this had all began.

"Here," Galo said, putting Lio's hand on a compress against a woman's arm. "Hold it just like this."

"Right." Lio kept pressure on the wound. The patient's face stayed slack and shocky, not interested in the identity of her rescuers. "Everything is going to be okay," he told her, and she nodded, ready to believe anything he said.

"You're in great hands!" Galo said. "You've got Galo dé Lion on your side!"

"I'm pretty sure Galo dé Lion is a thing of the past," said Lio. "I don't have those powers any longer."

"It's the principle of the thing. In our hearts, we'll always be Galo dé Lion."

Lio didn't reply. Arguing with Galo to explain the obvious wasn't worth it. Instead he offered a reassuring smile to the patient. She was sliding deeper into her funk. He needed to keep her talking. "Tell me about yourself. What's your name?"

"Shari."

"Nice to meet you, Shari. I'm Lio."

* * *

The cleanup took weeks. With the sanctuary gone, the Burnish had no home, but with their powers also gone, many of them returned to the homes they had lost the day the fires had burned in them for the first time. Meis did go to see his grandfather, who embraced him and cried, inviting the three of them to dinner that same night. After that, Meis lived with him, but came every day to Burning Rescue headquarters to help.

Lio lived in the headquarters. They had tiny rooms for the firefighters to sleep in when they stayed over. One of these became his. He had no possessions, no clothes except what his new associates could spare, but he had a bed of his own that smelled clean, and he had a mind empty of the voices that had ridden inside him for three decades. He ate the same meals that Burning Rescue ate: giant plates of eggs for breakfast, and as much pizza as he could stomach for the rest of the day.

Lio usually joined Galo to pick up the pizzas. The first time, he was surprised to see which restaurant they pulled up in front of. Galo noticed. "You like this place?"

"I never had a chance to eat here. I've been here before."

"There was a Burnish working for Pops. Made the best pizzas in Promepolis."

Lio remembered Pavak's nervous eyes, and how proud he'd been to have a place of his own, to be saving up for a car. "I bet he did."

* * *

To his surprise, ten days into his new life, Ignis took him aside. "Here," he said roughly, handing Lio a wad of bills.

"What?"

"It's your pay. You're not in the system yet, but it's payday for everyone, and that means you, too. Buy yourself some clothes."

"I.... Thank you."

Lio had worked before, whatever jobs he could find to feed himself during those long days on the run. He'd weeded hydroponic farms and delivered boxes of noodles. He'd bagged groceries and washed floors. He'd never stayed long. He might have had control over his powers, but he'd always been aware of their danger.

This was the first job he'd ever taken that he could picture himself staying at for good.

"Ignis?" he said to the man's retreating back.

"What?"

"I, uh." He stopped. Lio hadn't let himself think about this, but the moment the idea had popped into his head, he'd known. It was like the voice of the Promare speaking to him, but the voice was himself, a part of himself he'd thought lost forever. "I want to learn how to be a medic."

Ignis stood for a moment with his back to Lio. "You do? And you think any sane citizen would want some ex-Mad Burnish treating them?"

His heart hammered in his chest. "It shouldn't matter. I'd be there to help them. It doesn't matter if I was still Burnish, or if they were Burnish and I wasn't. You help people who need it."

Ignis spun on his heel, a cheesy smile growing on his face. He rushed back to Lio. "That's the answer I wanted. Your training starts tomorrow, seven AM sharp, don't be late!"

"I won't, sir!"

"Good! You have no idea how much paperwork I've filed in the last week to keep your ass out of jail. Time for you to prove my sore wrist was worth it."

* * *

Lio dragged himself to the training room at six fifty-nine. Galo already sat there, feet up on his desk, grinning. "Hi!"

"Hi," said Lio. He wasn't thrilled to be here this early. He'd swallowed some eggs, some coffee, and his nerves before walking into this room. "I thought you already had your medic training. You told me you knew what to do."

"Oh, I do. Who do you think your teacher is?"

Lio groaned.

* * *

His first day of training was cut short by an emergency call. The Burnish might not be burning things any longer, but cities were famous for their fires, and Promepolis had more than its share. Lucia had been tinkering with a new mecha suit to fit Lio. He saw the worried expressions on everyone's faces, but if he was going to stay on this team, it was high time he donned one of these.

"Putting you right in the middle of the building!" she shouted, and blasted him into the heart of the fire.

Lio had known fires before, knew their dance and their intimate wonders. This fire raged mindlessly, chewing up walls and desks and potted plants as the team moved in. Remi stalked beside him. "Come on, Lio!"

Galo was somewhere else in the building, putting out fires as he bragged over the comms. "Seriously, rookie," said Varys. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to drop you through a window."

"I heard that!" Gallo said over the comms.

The others laughed and Lio joined in with a quiet chuckle of his own before pushing his way further into the building and quenching the flames with the sprayers attached to his mecha's hands. Helping. He was helping.

* * *

Training to be a medic meant relearning how to learn. Lio recalled the quiet days of sitting at a desk, reading his thick textbooks and writing down every word the instructor said. Learning from Galo was nothing like that. Galo shouted questions at him, and yelled the answers back before Lio could guess. There were multiple books, and Lio pored through them in his free time, recommitting to memory the names of all the bones, organs, and systems in the human body. Galo showed him films about trauma: burns, breaks, punctures, gouges. Lio's stomach churned at the worst of these, but he swallowed his bile and wrote everything down.

"Am I going too fast?"

"No."

"Great! Time for a practical exam!" Galo flung himself to the floor with his leg cocked to the side. "Ow. Ow. Medic, I think I have broken my leg."

Lio knelt beside him and gingerly pressed his fingers along the proffered leg. "Tell me where it hurts." He pressed along the bone, then pinched Galo right below the knee.

"Ow!"

"Found the break," Lio said smoothly. "I'll need to examine it. I'm going to roll up your pant leg."

"It'd be easier to see if I pulled them off."

"As your medic, I don't think that's appropriate." Lio rolled up Galo's pant leg and pretended to examine the wound. "Closed fracture. No skin breakage. I'll splint it and we'll get you to the hospital, sir." 

"I like it when you call me 'sir.'"

Lio ignored him and pulled out the first aid supplies. He slapped the two cold metal rods in the case to use as a splint while Galo shivered and complained about the chill, then taped him efficiently. "There. Now we can transport you."

Galo sulked. "I still think you should have taken off my pants."

Aina picked that moment to walk in. "Um. Oh."

Lio stood and smiled at her brightly. "I'm pleased to say I've bound the patient's broken leg. You can transport him to the hospital now."

"Class isn't over yet!" Galo said, but Lio was already down the hallway and could only listen as Galo failed to stumble to his feet and Aina laughed at him.

* * *

Varys offered him the last slice of pizza. "You can have it, Lio."

Galo had his hand halfway there and put it back. "Hey, why do you call him Lio? You call me 'rookie' all the time. Lio's newer to the team. He's the rookie now."

"Maybe," said Varys sitting back in his chair. "But I like him better."

* * *

Gueira and Meis left the team as soon as the cleanup finished. Gueira's uncle and aunt took him in with hugs and tears. There was going to be a new police academy, Gueira told Lio over dinner one night. The Foresight Foundation wasn't in charge of things around here anymore, and they needed officers to keep the peace and uphold what laws the people intended to pass.

"You're going to be a cop?"

"The best thieves make the best cops," said Gueira. "So I should be running the police force within a couple of months."

Meis helped his grandfather aboard his new fishing boat. "The fish don't smell that bad," he said. "I like being out in the sun on the water, and my granddad says I can take over the business when he retires."

"I'm happy for you," Lio said, and he meant it.

He'd spoken with Hina twice. Her family had moved to Seattonia, and she'd decided to move to join them. She was working in a food bank there, helping feed hungry people. "I like being on the other side of the table," she told him. "I thought the workers looked down on me when I was picking up cans for the sanctuary, but when I'm handing out food now, I'm filled with happiness every time. I'm helping someone."

"I understand."

* * *

Burnish didn't have graves. Lio had kept the names of fallen friends written inside his own heart for long enough. With his first pay, he bought some shirts. With his second, he made a down payment on a memorial stone, and gave the stoneworker the names of the Burnish who had returned to ashes. Dion. Thyma. So many others.

When he visited the shop a few weeks later to check on the progress, he'd expected the small monument he could afford to be covered with names in tiny font. Instead, the memorial stone was five times as large as the one he'd ordered.

"This is wonderful, but I'm afraid I'll have to stretch out the payments longer." He tried to do the math on what he thought his pay would be.

"No," said the mason. "It's already been paid off." He pulled up the receipt on his computer, and Lio read "Galo Thymos" as the payee.

He went to Galo as soon as he returned to the station. "Why did you do that?" When he saw Galo's confusion, he added, "The memorial."

"It wasn't just me. Everybody chipped in, I just handed it over." Galo gave him a goofy smile. "I told the team about the ashes thing, and I knew you were putting a memorial together for your friends."

"Yes. _I_ was. For _my_ friends. You can't just walk into my life and change my decisions."

"Sorry," Galo said, and he sounded contrite. "I knew you don't have a lot of money right now. The rest of us have a little put away. You're our friend, Lio. This is important to you, so it's important to us."

Lio folded his arms, folded in on himself. Burning Rescue had been kind to him, more so than he'd had any right to expect. They'd given him a place to live, and food to eat, and a job. He considered them his unlikely benefactors. He and Galo had joined spirits inside Galo dé Lion and he was still figuring out what that meant. No other words in any language he spoke could encompass that sort of thing.

But they all considered Lio their friend now.

"Thank you," he said, his throat thick with too many words he didn't know how to say.

* * *

The memorial stone wasn't their only surprise. Ignis had spent even more time wrenching his wrist filling out paperwork, but the result was that a park which had formerly belonged to the Foresight Foundation had been reclaimed by the city. Promare Park would be dedicated to the Burnish who had perished during their long persecution.

"You should say a few words," Galo said, and kept goading him when Lio declined. "You were their leader, bud. Making speeches is your job. You made enough to me."

"I'll think about it," said Lio. "I want to go over puncture wounds again."

"Fine."

But Galo kept pressing, and Ignis flat out ordered him, which Lio didn't think was within Ignis's job, and this was how Lio found himself standing at a podium in front of hundreds of people.

"Good afternoon," he said, and the microphone squealed its feedback. "Sorry. Hi. Thank you for coming out today. I'm Lio Fotia. I used to be the leader of Mad Burnish." There were some boos, which he'd expected. Not a lot of boos, because Varys and Remi had taken places to either side of the stage in their largest mecha suits.

He had some prepared notes about the Great World Blaze, about what had happened to the people who became the Burnish. He read off the notecards at first, then abandoned them. As though he was talking to friends, he told the crowd about Dion's reckless joy, and Thyma's kindness, and every story he could remember for every name he'd had etched onto the stone. It was like pulling out a great rotting mass inside his heart and tossing it to the ground, and letting the wound heal clean at last.

After, Gueira and Meis mobbed him at the podium, laughing with him and rubbing his hair. Lucia told jokes, and Galo told worse ones, and they all walked together to see the memorial where it stood. He brushed his fingers against the names, their stories fresh in his mind and on his lips. The Promare were gone. The Burnish were no more. But they would be remembered.

The crowd thronged around the memorial and the heroes of Burning Rescue.

Lio thought he saw someone staring at him for a long time, but when another knot of people passed, whoever it was had gone.

* * *

He registered for real medical classes when the next session started. Galo kept up the private lessons, and to Lio's surprise, his random pop quizzes and mercurial approach to content were incredibly helpful as a background now that Lio was studying in earnest. He could name more types of injuries and how to treat them than anyone else in his classes, even if some of his classmates gave him dirty looks whenever they discussed burns.

"You're the real Lio Fotia, aren't you?" asked a boy as one class let out.

"Yes."

"I always wondered what your name was. I only knew you as Mad Burnish."

"Most people did." Lio waited for the accusation, or the anger.

The boy's name was Kashi and he was studying to be a nurse, and they would wind up cramming for final exams together while moaning about their strict instructor to one another. Now he said, "I never knew how to contact other Burnish. I was always too scared to go look."

Lio looked at him again with his older eyes, the ones used to looking for the fire and the fear. Neither were present in Kashi's gaze, but their memory lingered.

"You don't have to be scared any longer."

* * *

Sometimes they went for drives, when school was too much, or the station house was too small. They'd share a bike and get out of the city for a couple of hours. Galo took him back to where the frozen lake used to be. Lio visited the ruins of the old sanctuary, pausing over a torn blanket here, a broken shelf there.

He found the crumbled shards of a gardening pot. The plant was withered and brown, but some blind, white tendrils had stretched out from the roots and dug into the ground. Surrounding these were young, green seedlings newly risen above the soil. Across the volcanic plain, Lio saw a tiny green carpet slowly retaking the scorched ground. The holy fire had come, and life followed, blessed by its wake.

* * *

He'd been putting this off. Every excuse he'd ever made in his head came back to him over and over. Galo groaned at him. "Will you get over it? It will be fine."

"But it's not fine. Galo, the flames kept me whole and alive and young for thirty years."

"Yeah and now you have to age like the rest of us."

"Not my point."

"It will be fine. Come on." Galo grabbed his hand and dragged him off the motorcycle and up the short walk to the front door. When Lio just stood there, terrified to move, too frightened to speak or run, Galo sighed and jammed his finger into the door buzzer.

He heard the buzzing sound inside. She hadn't changed it in all this time.

The door cracked open on a chain. "Hello?" said a voice suspiciously.

Lio couldn't speak.

"Mrs. Fotia?" Galo asked.

"Yes?" The door closed. Then Lio heard the slide of the chain. The familiar white door opened wider behind the screen door. An old woman stood there, and his mind hadn't lied to him. She'd been in the crowd at the memorial service, watching him.

She stared at him now in wonder through the screen door.

"Lio?"

"Hi, Mom."

The door creaked open and she came outside, awkwardly moving over the threshold step. She stared harder at him. "I thought it was you at the speech. But you're so young."

"I know, Mom." Tears filled his eyes. "So much has happened. I'll tell you about all of it."

She embraced him suddenly. Her arms were weaker than they had been, but still filled with love. "Lio, Lio," she said, over and over.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to come back."

"It's fine," she said, weeping. "It's fine."

Still clutching him, she stepped back. "I'm sorry, young man," she said to Galo. "You were with him up on that stage. I didn't catch your name."

"This is Galo, Mom. He's my," he coughed, "my best friend."

"Good. I'm glad you have friends, Lio." She wiped her eyes with her hands. "Come inside, boys. I've got a pot of noodles on. We can eat and talk." Still holding him, she gestured to the door. Lio tilted his head for Galo to go first, and Galo helped Mom back over the threshold.

Lio took a breath, and stepped inside, and came home.


End file.
